The Rural Alberta Advantage sprouts indie rock from cold, hard Canada
Christina CaldwellIssue date: 12/10/09 Section: Calendar
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But it was when he realized the power of an old industry-touting song about his home province of Alberta, Canada, that his career took off.
College Times: Your re-release of Hometowns got an 8 out of 10 on Pitchfork. They're notoriously tough critics. What's it like to be ranked among some of the best albums of the year?
Edenloff: It's been nice. I know we were all really nervous knowing that it was coming out. It was definitely a pleasant surprise when we saw the review from them.
The Rural Alberta Advantage, as well as other popular indie bands today, come from Canada. What do you think it is about Canada that inspires such awesome indie music?
Well, it's really hard to say. The Canadian scene is really supportive of nurturing bands. I think also the whole SOCAN [Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada] system [works]. There's a lot of government promotion that helps foster independent bands. Wow, that sounded super socialist. [Laughs]
You toured extensively through Canada for Hometowns and now you're touring through the US. How are touring through the two countries different?
Well, it's warmer. [Laughs] We've probably played more in the States than we have in Canada at this point, but I think for the most part there really isn't too much difference, in a way. I think a lot of the people that we're meeting and are coming to the shows are pretty like-minded individuals. I think the audience that we're appealing to is pretty universally open-minded, which has been really nice for us. I can't really say too much is different. The drives are much longer in Canada. There's a lot more open space between places to play shows. In the States it isn't too much of a drive.
There's something about Hometowns that seems very organic and free-flowing, but was there a message you were trying to convey?
I think the sound more or less developed on its own. We really just tried to capture the live show that we were playing and I think it was really true to that.
You guys were unsigned up until late last year, which baffled a lot of critics and fans. How has signing with Saddle Creek Records changed things for the band?
They've been really supportive and sort of opened up a lot of doors for us in the States, in terms of getting the album out and promoting [it]. They were really easy going and really supportive. I remember when we first started talking, I was still kind of in awe of that they wanted to do a straight-up re-release, which is great for us because the album has been more or less out for awhile and it was put on eMusic and a lot of people downloaded it through that and we were selling it on our own. [The album] was pretty bleak. We've always been behind it. We thought it was good and we didn't want to change anything on it, just to add to it. The fact that they were happy to just do a re-release of the album was just unknown. It was pretty cool of them.
I'm sure you get this all the time, but what's the story behind the band name?
Well, I'm the only member who grew up in Alberta. There was a song called "The Alberta Advantage" and it basically sort of trumpeted the job opportunities there in the oil and gas industry. After I moved to Toronto, I exchanged an e-mail with my brother, who said he was going back to the farm, staying with friends and discovering the rural Alberta advantage. By putting that one word in front of the phrase, it changed all of the dirty memories I had of that line. I instantly remembered all of the memories I had growing up in Alberta and I think the name really captured the music in a way.
The Rural Alberta Advantage w/The Shaky Hands, Rhythm Room, December 12, 7:30 p.m., $10 adv, $12 dos
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